Visiting Becker
by bhut
Summary: Becker takes Jess out for a pizza  and its' not a date . A time anomaly, however, may ruin this...
1. Chapter 1

**Visiting Becker**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

There was a tentative knock on the door. Becker stiffened. "Who is it?" he called out, warily.

"Becker, it's me, Jess. I came to check up on you – can I come in, or should I go?"

Slowly, the door opened. "Come in, Jess," Becker spoke, sounding a bit sheepish himself. "And sorry about the mess in advance. I admit I was not expecting company, so this is basically a bachelor's home."

As a matter of fact, Jess decided as she entered the smallish apartment, 'a mess' was probably an incorrect choice of words: the apartment was actually quite neat – two bedrooms, one well-stocked kitchen and a bathroom, as well as a modest TV, a computer, and a couple of drawers with books. There were also lockers that contained either clothes or utilities of some other sort.

Other than that, there were no other features. "Nice place," Jess said, thoughtfully, "but a little, uh, bare. Surely there are some posters that you can put on the walls, or maybe a map or two?"

"Yes, I could, but until I joined the ARC a couple of years ago, I lead a rather mobile lifestyle, you know?" Becker admitted, rather grimly. "Developing an attachment to things is almost as bad as attachment to people..."

"Ah," Jess said thoughtfully, noticing that Becker had trailed away, looking more taciturn and morose than the usual. "Right. But you can't help forming an attachment to people, can you?"

"People and things are two different things, pardon the pun," Becker said wryly. "But enough about me. How are you? How're Abby, and Connor, and Matt?"

"Lousy," Jess admitted, "we can't wait for you to come back, by the way."

Becker blinked. "That bad?"

"That depends what you mean by 'bad'. Matt got his butt kicked by Emily's former time travelling companion-"

"Wait. When you said 'Emily', did you mean the woman that came alongside the monkey-raptors some time ago?" Becker demanded of the lightly-built woman.

"Uh, yes?" Jess spoke in a small voice. "But she's not that bad, you know?"

Becker looked at her in silence that was rather uncomfortable; as Jess began to actually squirm, he spoke again, cleanly changing the conversation's topic. "So, what about Abby and Connor instead?"

"They spend their time in some quaint seaside village fighting both giant amphibians and local natives that were armed with shotguns and pitchforks. Can you imagine?" from Jess's tone of voice one could clearly see that she did not.

"Giant amphibians? That's a new one," Becker said thoughtfully, as he produced an encyclopaedia of some out of a drawer. "Did they make a picture of some sorts, or maybe you've recorded an image."

"Um, what's that?" Jess said, delicately.

"McMillan's encyclopaedia of prehistoric animals," Becker admitted. "Connor suggested that I get one. It's a 1999 edition. Can you, uh, check the amphibians' section?"

"Already did, back at the ARC," Jess snorted, rather cutely. "We got much more than just that encyclopaedia, you know? Anyways, the amphibian was a new one, apparently, and Connor was very upset."

"He was? I thought that he'd be happy to have discovered something new."

"Yes, well, he wasn't. I never saw he so upset, actually, not since the, uh, so-called monkey-raptors," Jess admitted. "But enough about us. How about you?"

"Just great," Becker said, trying to be nonchalant. "I, uh, got some take-out in the fridge – chicken, mostly. Want some?"

"Uh, no. I'm a vegetarian, really, though I sometimes cheat on my diet with pizza."

"Well, I also got coleslaw and some sort of a fruity drink – but if you want pizza, what do you say we go out and, well, have it."

Jess opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Hilary Becker, are you asking me on a date?" she finally said.

"I am inviting you for pizza," Becker said firmly, "and don't call me Hilary! So, you want to come?"

"Yes," Jess nodded enthusiastically, her eyes twinkling. "Let's go!"

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Visiting Becker - 2**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

The pizza place where Jess and Becker ended up at was located in a quiet, out of the way corner street, and it was rather comfortable. There were other visitors, sure enough, but none of them seemed to know Jess or Becker, and so the pair was left to their own devices.

"This is nice," Jess muttered appreciatively: the cafeteria of the ARC was one of those places, in her opinion, that could've been improved some more after Burton became the Centre's co-owner. "Very private. Looks kind of pricey, though."

"Eh, I don't spend a lot," Becker shrugged, nonchalantly, "so I can cover the local prices well enough. Do you want your pizza to be vegetarian, or what?"

"...Or what," Jess decided after a brief internal struggle. "You do the ordering. If I'm to cheat on my diet, might as well go the whole hog-"

There was a pause, as both Becker and Jess looked at each other; Jess blinked first. "Sorry for the unintended choice of words," she winced. "It's just that dieting's sort of a sore spot at home..." she trailed away, looking more uncomfortable by the minute, looking as if she could bolt at any time.

"Right," Becker said finally, "why don't I go and get us the pizza while you get us a seat instead?"

"Please and thank you," Jess said rapidly, with audible relief. "You're my hero!"

Jess found a seat for two quickly enough – maybe even too quickly, because, honestly, she couldn't remember a time when she'd been more embarrassed than right now. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, why did I mention it! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Tough break?" Jess's neighbour from the booth to her left asked suddenly, startling her.

"Yes!" Jess admitted. "I'm here on a sort of not quite a date with a friend, and I have sort of made an idiot of myself at the moment-"

"Ah, don't worry," the woman smiled (she looked vaguely familiar, but Jess couldn't remember where she had seen her before), "it's all in the perspective. For all of we know, by the end of today this episode will be utterly unimportant to you, no?"

"Um," Jess wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. "What do you mean?" she trailed away – the booth next to her was empty, the other woman was gone.

"What _do_ I mean?" Becker asked her instead, genuinely confused.

"Sorry," Jess flushed, "I've been talking to our neighbour... who is gone now..."

"That happens," Becker admitted, "the clients here sometimes may be just a bit weird, you know?"

"Really? So it's not just me?" Jess said in relief. "Good, because-"

Whatever else Jess was going to say remained unsaid, as abruptly the time anomaly detector that Becker had taken with them in case of an emergency sprung to life.

"Crud."

_To be continued_


	3. Chapter 3

**Visiting Becker – 3**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

"Where... where is it coming from?" Becker said, with clear disbelief, as the other patrons of the pizza parlour began to look around, not knowing what the time anomaly detector's sound signified.

"The kitchen," Jess said, almost just as disbelieving, as she and Becker began to look in that direction. "Drat, please let it not be something icky, like a giant scorpion!"

"Given our luck, it'll be a sabre-tooth cat instead," Becker muttered dryly, "and, by the way, are you authorized to own it?"

"Yes," Jess said crossly, "I am. And, Becker, on that topic-"

Something emerged from the pizzeria's kitchen, smashing the doors open – a hippopotamus. Surprisingly, it was rather small, no bigger than a large pig, and it looked very unhappy, almost scared.

"Jess," Becker spoke quietly after a short pause, when it became obvious that the animal wasn't about to attack anyone, and looked as if it was much more scared than angered, "um, any ideas?"

Jess looked at Becker in surprise. "What?" the latter spoke, still quiet. "I'm still unarmed, and I'm not going to wrestle it hand to hand: its jaws are as big as a briefcase, and the teeth are probably quite sharp."

"Point," Jess said slowly, "plus, well, I cannot help but think that it's too small for a hippo, even for a prehistoric one-"

The hippopotamus chose this time to open its mouth and emit a cry, which sounded suspiciously like that of a baby. It was echoed by another one, more distant, yet significantly louder and deeper in timbre.

"Yup, just a baby," Jess said, rather miserably, "and, Becker, I think that when its mom or dad will come here, things will be far worse."

Becker's forehead frowned in thought. "Right, then the first thing we need to do is shut up the little thing." He picked up his slice of pizza and threw it into the baby hippopotamus's still-open mouth. The rather impressive jaws snapped shut; the small animal blinked a couple of times, and suddenly looked far less unhappy, and more curious about its surroundings: clearly, if there was some good eating around here, then things weren't all bad.

"Becker, what are you doing?" Jess whispered, slightly confused.

"I think I have an idea," Becker thoughtfully replied as he took another slice of pizza, and approached the baby hippopotamus, waving it before its nose. The animal took one or two good sniffs, and openly reached out for it, clearly intending on having a meal, instead of calling mom.

Becker, however, had other plans: instead of feeding the hippopotamus, he threw the pizza slice back into the kitchen. Instinctively, the animal followed, effortlessly moving through the doorway (which, admittedly, had already been rather smashed by the animal's initial entry), emitting some sort of cries, which, admittedly, were less frantic than the ones before. Still, they were responded by other, much deeper ones... and then they were suddenly cut off.

"I think that the baby gone back to prehistoric Africa, or whenever it came from," Becker muttered quietly to Jess. "Want to follow its' example and split?"

"Yes," Jess nodded emphatically. "I think that you've mentioned something about a fruity drink back home?"

The walk home was uneventful, the evening was warm and quiet, and neither Becker nor Jess felt as if they were followed – apparently, their escape in all of the confusion was successful. "You know, for not a date, this was kind of fun," Jess muttered appreciatively to Becker. "Still, next time we go out, it'll be my treat."

"Yes, well, it seems that fun isn't over yet for tonight," Becker said surprisingly sourly, as he saw that they were being approached by a rather familiar person. "Good evening, Mr. Lester."

_To be continued._


	4. Chapter 4

**Visiting Becker – 4**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

"Mr. Lester - sir," Becker said slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing out here?" Lester responded with a counter question instead. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"No," Becker replied, frankly. "I'll be able to resume my regular duties very soon."

"Hurray!" Lester exclaimed, almost without any sarcasm. "About time. Temple and Maitland seem to be embroiled in yet another one of their feuds, while Philip's wonderboy Anderson got his- well, he got trounced by the latest escapee from the prehistoric past – human, mark you!"

"That Emily woman?" Becker said, not-quite-believing Lester – for all of his own dislike of Matt, he was sure that the latter could handle his crush on the ARC's latest recorded time traveller...

"No, some bloke named Ethan," Lester explained, sounding rather more disgruntled than usual. "Humph. Tossed Anderson all around the cemetery, I understood, so much for Philip's high praises. You better come back soon, Becker, or I will be probably forced to create some sort of a new team from scratch, and that would be so annoying."

"You're all heart, Mr. Lester," Jess spoke for the first time, "who would've thought?"

"Not me," Lester said acidly, as he reached behind him, and thrust out a bouquet of flowers straight at Becker. "Here. These are for you. There's a get-well card as well."

"For me?" Becker didn't try to keep the incredulity out of his voice, even as he tried to joke about it. "Mr. Lester, I'm flattered, but-"

"Relax, soldier boy, this was my idea," the woman that Jess had talked to earlier in the pizza place appeared from behind Lester as well, with a big dog on her leash. And to Jess's greater surprise, Becker seemed to know her as well.

"Ah, Caroline," he said in an understanding tone of voice. "Nice to see you too. Still training dogs, right?"

"And supplying them, including the ARC," Caroline said wryly. "Anyways, after Lester complained how without your presence the team seemed to be falling apart on some fault lines – or something – I figured the least thing that he could do was to give you a get-well card, and it sort-of spiralled out from there."

"Ah," Becker said, thoughtfully. "This does make sense. Caroline, Mr. Lester – thank you."

"You're welcome. Make sure to put them into a vase," Lester said, going for his usual deadpan.

"I, uh, don't have a vase," Becker replied, instinctively.

"I'll help you get one," Jess said, quickly – maybe even too quickly, as everyone stared at her, and she blushed.

"Then it's settled," Lester said, sounding almost relieved. "Becker, Parker, I leave you with your vase-hunt; Ms. Steele, let's go and settle our accords-"

Lester and Caroline left, arguing about finances of some sort, leaving Becker and Jess in private once more.

"So, you mentioned something about a vase?" Becker said, trying to get over his shock of receiving flowers from Lester.

"Yes, I have one at home...and Connor and Abby are there already...oh well, want to go and get it anyways?"

"Certainly," Becker nodded, "and Jess, you do know that I do have a car? Let's drive."

"Oh, let's!"

_To be continued..._


	5. Chapter 5

**Visiting Becker – 5**

_Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

When Becker and Jess arrived at her place, the first thing that Becker did was to gallantly help Jess out of his car. Jess, however, was not quite in the mood to appreciate it, unfortunately.

"...Well!" was all that she said, eventually. "I see know how can you be so uptight, as Connor would put it. Apparently it's because you get to unwind behind the wheel of your car, and when I say 'unwind', I mean it-"

"Did you know that when you say that I'm uptight, you're so much cuter than Connor is?" Becker said the first thing that came to his mind, causing Jess to turn red, briefly.

"...Right," she finally got over her flustering. "Let's go and get these flowers settled shall we?" And with those words Jenny ventured forth, hoping that she was emanating self-confidence as her self-esteem seminars had told her that she would.

In addition, she also hoped that Abby and Connor weren't at home yet, but no such luck – they actually were. But, on the other hand, they weren't arguing.

"I'm telling you, Abby, something has gone wrong," Connor was saying in his more serious manner of speaking. "First the tree creepers. What are they supposed to be? Raptors? The ARC had studied raptors – literally, not just from fossils – and I can tell you that these animals are _not_ them! And now – a prehistoric amphibian that can survive brackish water! Abby, there's only one species of modern amphibian that can survive it, the cane toad, and that's after over 300 million years of amphibian evolution! Abby, something has gone not right in the past!"

"Okay, okay," Abby said quickly, as she remembered Connor's excitement in the past and that it was not necessarily a good thing. "So, something has not gone right. What? Danny has stopped Helen, presumably, for otherwise we would not be here, I reckon. What else is left?"

"I don't know," Connor said, guiltily. "I'm leaning towards the spinosaurus, because, frankly, that's the only idea I've got."

"Well, where'd you send it?"

"Hopefully, back to the Cretaceous," Connor confessed, "but I cannot help but to have a sneaking suspicion that I may've send it to Palaeocene instead – oh, hello, Jess, Becker."

"Nice flowers," Abby added, looking at the bouquet. "Where'd you get it?"

"From Lester, actually. It got a get-well card, and all," Becker admitted, almost sheepishly.

"Really? You sure? 'Cause from what I knew about Lester, he didn't consider flowers too manly," Connor said, doubtfully.

"Believe it," Jess said, dryly, "I was there. Anyways, we're here to put them into a vase."

"Why not at Becker's?" Abby asked, curious.

"Because Becker doesn't have any, since he does not believe in attachment to property – even more so than he does not believe in attachment to people."

"That sounds pretty much like Becker," Connor nodded sagely, "I say, old mate, do you have to be so uptight? Or cheap, rather?"

Becker glared. "Don't you and Abby have an apartment of your own?" he snapped, as Connor's words had stung more than he expected them too. "Like, issued by Burton himself?"

There was a brief silence, finally broke by Abby. "Good point," she said quickly, "why don't we go and check it out with Connor?"

The two of them quickly left.

"Sorry," Becker confessed as Jess half-glared half-stared at him, "it's just that Connor... I'm not cheap, am I?"

"No," Jess quickly assured him, "you're just frugal! And, uh, don't have too many avenue of spending? That is good! I mean... you're not cheap and Connor was wrong. That said, maybe you should apologize to him, too."

"Yes, I'll go and do that," Becker nodded, sagely, turning to leave.

"Wait," Jess called out, quickly moved over to Becker and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for the great evening. It wasn't your fault with the prehistoric hippopotamus, you know? And let's do it again, just not because you're on the sick leave, you know?"

Becker rubbed his cheek, looked thoughtfully at Jess (who began to fidget slightly), and then, making some sort of a decision, reached back and kissed her, long and hard.

"Whoa!" Jess couldn't help but exclaim, "Becker!"

"Thank you for checking up on me," Becker said seriously, "really. Well, I'm off to apologize to Abby and Connor-"

"Screw them," Jess said cheerfully, "I've got coffee and croissants – want some?"

"You bet!" Becker grinned. The two exchanged some more thoughtful looks and began to walk in the general direction of the kitchen, when Jess's answering machine turned on. "Jess?" Abby sounded uncharacteristically nervous, "please don't hurt us, but Lester called. Apparently, a Pliocene time anomaly has opened up, and well, we need Becker's help. Please?"

"If it's another baby hippopotamus, I don't care," Becker muttered sourly. "Somebody's going to get hurt, and not necessarily Connor."

"Ah, let's go," Jess said, gently, "the moment's gone. But it may be back," she added with a promising twinkle in her eye.

And the pair hugged, just before leaving and helping Connor and Abby to close the time anomaly.

End.


End file.
